Becca Palermo

Staff writer

Chief Justice of Connecticut’s Supreme Court, Richard Robinson, visited Foran on Friday, May 24 to give students currently enrolled in AP Government and Civics classes a better understanding of how the judicial system works. At the start of the presentation, Justice Robinson said, “One of the biggest problems today is that people don’t know how their own government works.”

Ms. Jessica Hirschbeck, teacher at Foran and neighbor to Justice Robinson, included what she hopes her students took away from the presentation, “I hope what my students take away from Justice Robinson’s presentation is to learn first hand how the CT judicial system works. I also want them to understand how important it is to be aware of our implied biases, and that sometimes we judge others or treat others differently based on our biased opinions.” Ms. Hirschbeck went on to add, “Justice Robinson does a great deal with diversity and inclusion training and advocating for minorities in the court system”.

AP Government student, sophomore, Amanda Queiroz states, “I think the importance of the presentation was to show us how an actual judge from Connecticut sees issues and how he reacts to them, giving us an actual perspective of what really goes on in the judicial system.” She adds, “I took away so many things he talked about, dealing with ways he made it into Connecticut’s Supreme Court, also the different issues he has dealt with that show stereotypes play big role in how fast people are to judge others.”

Students in both AP Government and Civics felt the presentation was informative for what goes on inside the judicial branch and how it is important to know more about our government. Junior,Victoria Padilla, who is currently taking Civics at Foran and attended Chief Justice Robinson’s presentation stated, “The importance of the presentation was to inform us about the different levels of the judicial branch. It’s important to know more about our government and educate ourselves more about it. Justice Robinson also talked about racism, which still lasts today and how he faces it during court cases.”

Sophomore Abby Woodward, AP Government student, stated, “The importance of the presentation was to get a better understanding and learn more about our government. I thought the presentation was very interesting!” According to an article written by Chris Cillizza, published by CNN, “Only one in four (26%) can name all three branches of the government, more than one in three people (37%) could not name a single right protected by the First Amendment.” Today, not everyone fully understands how their own government works, and Justice Robinson educated the students from his first hand experiences.